The Portland daily press., 1887-01-12
WOMEN ON THE JURY.
A Novel Sight In Seattle, Washington
Territory.
The Northwestern Lawyers Learn
Something New About Women.
Letter to woman's Journal.l !

Letter to Woman's Journal.l
In May of 1884 arrived in Seattle, Wash
ington Territory, the last stage of q two
months traHs=eontiHental trip, full Of curl
5ssity concerning many things in the life of
that far, new Western civilization, but with
more eager interest," naturally enough, on
the "woman question" than any other. For.
just six months before, the territorial legisla-
ture had passed, and the territorial Governor
had approved, the law by which one little
word was stricken out from the statute de-
fining the qualifications of electors, which,
therefore, from having read "all American
male citizens above the age of twenty-one
years, etc., now read "all American citizens
above the age" etc. while an additional sec
tion put tho matter beyond doubt by afhrma-
lively declaring that wherever the word
his occurs in the chapter aforesaid, it shall
be construed to mean his or her, as the case
may be-"
1t was the last week of court, and the first
invitation received in town was to 90 to
the court house-an invitation which l yery
promptly accepted. And there, sitting in
the usual two rows against the wall to the
left Of the bench and the right of the bar,
was the smixed' jury, listening quietly and
attentively to the evidence in the cause on
trial, which was the prosecution of some
poor wretch OF Dhinaman for some petty
ohense, the nature Of which have forgot
ten. Five out of the twelve jurors were la
dies. And ladies they were, too, in that
curlously inexplicable sense Of the term
which no other word win quite express.
Their faces and manner-their presence, in a
WORD. showed them to be without exception,
NnIftVafad I'D nm nf f,.a a
feminine instincts; the kind of women who
make delightful homes, happy wives and the
best Of mothers. And they were devoting
themselves to the business before them with
attention that they had given for years to
their domestic affairs within the four walls
of home.
One Of the leading members of the bar of
Seattle, and perhaps the most successful
Haines, formerly Of Chicago, gave me rather
an amusing account of his first experience
before mixed Jury.
lie had been extremely opposed to the
idea OF the thing in the abstract, and when
ne undertook the defence of man charged
with manslaughter in an up-Sound Itown be-
lore the spring session of court In Seattle
opened, and found that women had been
summoned as jurors, he thought that the
farce. Two OF the women were among the
Jurors drawn into the jury-box and submit
ted for his inspection. he consulted with
his client as to the best use to be made of
peremptory challenges.
I'VE can't do better than to get rid of these
Hold onv exclaimed the man N alarm.
you'll ruin us If you do that! Those two
women are my wife's best friends. You can
wind them round your finger"
so then, attorney and client tremblcd lest
the prosecution should challenge the women:
but the questions put elicted nothing preju-
dlclal to them, and they remained
Then the lawyer went carefully to work to
make sure of those two .jury-women. His
clients case was a pretty hard one, the facts
being such that the Indictment might as
well have been found for murder as man
slaughter, and no means could be overlooked
that might soften the hearts of the twelve
judges Of the evidence which must come out
ON the trial. For the ten men, therefore, he
worked up the doctrine of self-defence: and
he appealed to the sympathy of the two
women by having his clients wife and chill
aren IN court throughout the trial, crying
They would ''hang'' the jury at least
Ihe twelve went out when the trial ended
and stayed out long while. Occasionally
bulletin reports came to the waiting attorney
by some mysterious means, and they were
Away the same:
They have taken another ballot and they
still stand ten to two"
As the hours passed, he grew really proud
OF those TWO women who were so brayely
holding out for the acauittal of the husband
Of their friend.
At last the jury filed wearily into the court
room, long after the sun had set: the Judge
and attorneys were hastily summoned and
the prisoner brought up from his dungeon,
and the verdict was pronounced
1t was acquittal; but no thanks to the
women, who had been too clear sighted to be
fooled by the self defence theory which had
caught their brother jurors, and too conscien-
tlous to allow their pity, for the wife to af;
feet their judgment of the case. But finding
themselves alone in their opinion that the
last. '''''' '''o '0''-'
And this experience convinced the aston
ished lawyer that nothing but straight and
square evidence could be made available with
women jurors, and the last time | saw him,
nearly year later, he was still of the same
mind
1t is certain that The women who did jury
service in Seattle. during the. fall term of
court were not swayed by their feelings, or
sympathies, or prejudices, but wsre remark
ably quick sighted and keen scented in sift-
Ing the wheat from the chaff of evidence, and
as true as steel in their findings based there
on; watched them very carefully, and
the time. Ii they failed in either direction,
1t was in sometimes being trife too logical
not allowing sweet pity to have its fair in
nuence One woman in particular, | remem-
OF voting for verdict Of guilty every time,
and when drawn she was peremptorily chal-
lenged In case after case. / may have been
mistaken, but | have always credited her
with hanging the jury in my first case in
that fall term. They were out three hours
the longest three hours / ever passed--and
though they came In at last with verdict of
acquittal, / believed the rumor which came
to my ears that 1t was she who thought my
Chinaman client to be guilty of the crime
charged against him, whereas, as matter of
course, he was In reality quite innocent. /
believed, and when examined another set
OF jurors, the following week ON another
case, my first peremptory challenge wa. ex-
pended on this lady, whom | did not dare
trust again.
There were lovely ladies on that jury pan
el, however,-ladies to whom any one might
gladly entrust the settlement OF any question,
court Of justice at all. All manner Of cases
were presented to them, from murder to pc
TIT larceny, and complicated civil causes in
yolVing large sums of money, and requiring
days, sometimes weeks, for their trial; but
throughout the term these women were al
ways faithful and staunch. Always in their
place In the jury seats, or in the court room
waiting to be drawn; never looking i'll or fa-
ugued IN greater degree than did their broth
terested and awake to the situation while
In the occasional cases where verdict could
not be arrived at, they stayed the night out
till weary dawn, and fled into court next
morning, somewhat disheveled, perhaps.
but In quite as good condition as were the
men. Better, indeed, than seme of the lat
ter, who felt themselves great sufferers in
weed; for when women jurors came in
smoking Jurors went out-Or rathar tha ~.